Published 7:01 pm, Saturday, August 9, 2014

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Ian Anderson, 14, of Guilford, performs a solo on a tenor saxophone during the Litchfield Jazz Festival on Saturday, August 9, 2014. Anderson was one of several members of the Litchfield Jazz Camp who performed on Saturday. Esteban L. Hernandez Register Citizen less

Ian Anderson, 14, of Guilford, performs a solo on a tenor saxophone during the Litchfield Jazz Festival on Saturday, August 9, 2014. Anderson was one of several members of the Litchfield Jazz Camp who performed ... more

Photo: Journal Register Co.

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A combo from the Jazz Camp performs at the Litchfield Jazz Festival on Saturday, August 9, 2014, in Goshen. Esteban L. Hernandez Register Citizen

A combo from the Jazz Camp performs at the Litchfield Jazz Festival on Saturday, August 9, 2014, in Goshen. Esteban L. Hernandez Register Citizen

LITCHFIELD >> Glenn Conticello’s son, Joseph, 17, has been playing jazz piano for nine years.

The young man practices every day. He enjoys tickling ivories so much that he usually rushes through the more mundane parts of his life so he can work on his improvisation skills.

“He’ll play while we’re eating dinner, in the background,” Conticello said. “He’ll eat fast and go to the piano and play. We just sit and enjoy.”

On Saturday, Conticello, along with his wife, Sheila, and their daughter, Julia, attended the 19th annual Litchfield Jazz Festival. The Burlington family wasn’t just there to enjoy some of the world-class musicians performing on the second day of the three-day festival; they were there to enjoy Glenn’s combo band, which was set to perform on Saturday afternoon.

Glenn attended the Litchfield Jazz Camp, which is a year younger than the Jazz Festival, which started in 1996. Since 1997, the camp has educated roughly 350 students each summer, including a quarter who attend on need-based scholarships. The camp runs between four and five weeks, culminating with the festival, as the children perform in their own tent alongside classmates with the guidance of their instructors. The camp is one of the largest of its kind in the United States.

Conticello said his son is a student at Lewis Mills High School, which he attends in the morning, before heading to the Greater Hartford Academy of the Arts in the afternoon to study music. The family — which has a modest musical background — has enjoyed watching his development.

“I coached him when he was in little league and I saw him grow in little league, but, that wasn’t his sport,” Conticello said. “He’s emerged as really a very, very, very good jazz piano player. It’s amazing.”

If the younger Conticello continues his musical development, he may very well find himself perched atop the festival’s main stage, performing for a much bigger audience.

Several of the performers are Jazz Camp alums, a notion that the festival’s founder and executive/artistic director, Vita West Muir, is proud of helping produce. Muir is also the camp’s founder.

“It’s such a joy to see this happen,” Muir said. “If I look at the chart today, I can tick off for you how many people are our people. Some of them (are) coming back in other people’s band.”

Muir wasn’t kidding. There was an example just a few yards nearby, on stage: Nicole Zuraitis, who was performing as a back-up singer alongside headliner and Carmen Staaf Sextet, a pianist, is a camp alum. Zuraitis came to the camp at age 11, Muir said, before she attended NYU and became a classical singer.

The camps helps develop an appreciation for forms of music that aren’t topping the charts, because Muir said the camp is helping raise future audience members. Half of the kids who attend end up pursuing degrees in musical fields, Muir said.

“What we do is we give these kids all the equipment they need to go on and be a jazz musician if they want to or be a lover of jazz,” Muir said.

This year’s jazz camp took place at the Canterbury School in New Milford and included about 370 students.

Peter McEachern is on the jazz camp faculty, working primarily with trombone students. Students come from all over the country, as well as some international students, to attend. He said it’s a great experience for everybody, including the staff, who he said is top notch.

“You do a master class on your instrument everyday, but you teach a combo, a small group, and then you teach theory as well,” McEachern said. “It’s very intensive.”

The jazz festival wrapped up Sunday night with Cyrus Chestnut and other performers at the Goshen Fairgrounds. Visit litchfieldjazzfest.com to learn more about the camp and other events that have already been scheduled for the coming year.